Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Go Here/Hear - in NYC

If I was in New York right now, I would be attending THIS:


My friend and brilliant poet J. Mae Barizo is reading with Frank Bidart, Matthea Harvey, and the American String Quartet. GO!!!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Hearing/Here-ing

Two wonderful events I will be attending this week, that you should attend too:

On Thursday, in Oxford:
Back Room Poets present a poetry reading, featuring Brian Catling, Peter Robinson, & Vahni Capildeo. With members of Oxford Improvisers, support by Elizabeth Birchall and Josephine von Zitzewitz.
When: 14 May 2009; Doors open 7 pm, start at 7:30
Where: St. Mary Magdalen Church (opposite Borders), Central Oxford
Tickets: £6 (-£4)
See below for more detailed information about this reading and the fantastic poets.


On Friday, in Paris:
Shakespeare and Company presents Cecilia Woloch's Paris Poetry Workshop. A tradition for many local and visiting poets, this May workshop is now in its eighth year. It introduces English speaking poets from various corners of the map to one other and to local audiences and writers. My friend Jennifer Huxta will be reading.
When: 15 May 2009; 7 pm
Where: Shakespeare and Co. bookstore, 37 rue de la Bûcherie 75005 Paris

*****

About the series and the poets:
BACK ROOM POETS has provided a valuable forum for Oxford-based poets to perform and 
discuss their work for many years, and continues to present live poetry to a wider
audience, most recently at the Oxfringe Festival and at Art Jericho, Liz Birchall
has been a member since the foundation of the group. Her collection *The Forest that
Sailed Away* pays homage to Wychwood Forest, and she is now working on a cycle about
bees. Josephine von Zitzewitz has been a member since 2004 and is currently working
on a D.Phil on Russian Literature of the 1970s at St John's College.

PETER ROBINSON has published nine books of his own poetry, the latest of which is
*The Look of Goodbye: Poems 2001 - 2006* (Shearsman Books, 2008) as well as a
collection of aphorisms and translations from Italian and Japanese. He has also
engaged with a poetry as a critic and editor. His own poetry has been described
as exhibiting 'the urgencies of new creations' (Roy Fisher) and as 'some of the
most courageous poetry written in Englsh' (Adam Piette). His most recent work has
been praised for its 'intense but nuanced detail ' , the subtlety of its syntax,
and its ' unconventional rhythmic virtuosity ' (Jacket Magazine). Having held
a variety of academic posts in the UK and Japan, he currently teaches at the
University of Reading.

BRIAN CATLING 'has been exhibiting and publishing internationally since the 1970s, haunting
zones mostly unregulated by
institutions or the art market' (frieze). He says of himself: 'I am obsessively
engaged in the collision of separate activities
that sometimes fuse together in a hybrid event -- they being the
writing of poetry, the constructing of sculptural installation
and the action of performance.' He has published
eight books of
poetry and a collection of his poetry, *A Court of Miracles*, is due soon from Etruscan Press.
He is a Professor at the Ruskin
School of Drawing and Fine Art, and a Fellow of Linacre College.

VAHNI CAPILDEO is 'one of the most exciting and ambitious young Caribbean writers at work today ' (Antilles).
Her debut
collection of poems, *No Traveller Returns* (2003), was praised for its elegance and originality.
It was followed by *Person
Animal Figure* (2005), a series of dramatic monologues. Her third book,
*The Undraining Sea*, will be published in 2009. She
currently lives in Oxford, where she previously completed a
D.Phil on Old Norse, in 2000. She will be reprising a successful collaboration with members of the well-known
Oxford Improvisers
at this year's Oxfringe Festival.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Movement of her Mouth

There are eight walls to the room. A green couch.
Tiles around the fireplace depict scenes from the bible
and her voice dropped in from another time. It's not
insistent, this distraction, this obnoxious presence
of desire. Manipulation of the mind. The hand reaches out
to nothing, confusing implications of a board game
with wine. What concerns me is lack
disguised as wanting, or the color of her shoes
under a microscope. Red to be walked on by.
It's not that she does not say anything
but that the red drips from her mouth
to her shoes and perpetually twisting time.